Livestock specialist to speak at Sheep Week event

University of Vermont livestock specialist Chet Parsons is the keynote speaker for the Northern New York Sheep Week presentations Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Parsons will present the latest information on preventing and treating foot rot in sheep and goats, and will share observations from his recent travels to Norway, where he attended the Small Ruminant Veterinary Symposium, and to France on a livestock marketing study trip.

"The Northern New York Sheep Week programs provide shepherds and goatherds with the opportunity to learn the difference between foot scald and foot rot and ways to eradicate, and better yet, avoid the disease and keep it from spreading," Parsons said.

Parsons and Betsy Hodge, the small ruminant educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension St. Lawrence County, will also present an introductory talk about a breeding aide, a progesterone-releasing device, that encourages estrus cycling in sheep and goats.

"In Europe, sheep producers take advantage of fresh semen artificial insemination breeding practices to produce consistent carcass quality," Parsons said. "The technology is now available to breeders in the U.S."

Registration is requested for the Sheep Week programs, scheduled:

■ At 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Learning Farm, 1894 Route 68, Canton. Admission is $5 per person; call 379-9192 ext. 227 or e-mail bmf9@cornell.edu.

■ At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, 203 N. Hamilton St., Watertown. Admission is $5 or a dessert to pass; free for 4-H members. Call 788-8450

■ At 7 p.m. Thursday at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Clinton County, 6064 Route 22, Suite 5, Plattsburgh. Admission is $5 per person. Phone 1 (518) 561-7450.